Though separated by geography and
generations, the fight for civil rights in the United States,
continuing attempts to ensure human rights for people around the
globe, and the legal battle for reparations, all have a common
goal: dignity and equality for all citizens.

Leaders from each of these struggles
will speak at the University's third annual comparative human
rights conference, "Effective Approaches to the Realization of
Human Rights," to be held on Tuesday, Oct. 22, from 8:30 a.m.
to 4:45 p.m., in the South Campus Ballroom.

Dikgang Ernest Moseneke, a South
African high court judge, will deliver the conference's keynote
address. A former political prisoner, Moseneke was detained at the
age of 14 and incarcerated for 10 years during the apartheid era.
He later became one of South Africa's most successful black
lawyers, and was tapped to participate in framing the country's
new constitution and to oversee the country's first democratic
elections.

Ed Fagan, the lead attorney who
secured a settlement of more than $1 billion for Holocaust victims
in a lawsuit against Swiss banks and who is currently leading a
lawsuit seeking compensation for apartheid victims from Swiss and
American banks that financed South Africa's apartheid regime,
will give a pre-luncheon address.

And civil rights activist Myrlie
Evers-Williams, the first African-Amer ican woman to serve as
chairperson of the NAACP, will deliver the conference's
concluding speech. The widow of slain civil rights leader Medgar
Evers, she persisted in the work the couple had begun together. She
also continued her fight to have her husband's killer brought
to justice, and in 1994, Byron De La Beckwith was convicted of the
murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Other notable speakers include Curt
Goering, deputy executive director of Amnesty International, USA;
Ahmed Kathrada, a former political prisoner in South Africa for 26
years and one of Nelson Mandela's closest political and
personal allies, who has received the highest award offered by the
African National Congress; and Martin Macwan, convener of the
National Campaign for Human Rights of the Dalit
("Untouchables") in India, winner of the 2000 Robert F.
Kennedy Human Rights Award.

Kathrada will also give a seminar at
the Greater Hartford campus on Monday, Oct. 21, from 1 to 2
p.m.

"We are most fortunate to have
visit our campus so many notable participants who, through their
practical involvement in struggles against violations of human
rights, have expanded the scope of human rights realization for
others," says Amii Omara-Otunnu, UNESCO Chair-holder in
Comparative Human Rights, who organized the conference.
"Through their work, they have become historical figures and
role models for countless others."

During the conference, a dozen human
rights advocates and policy makers will discuss human rights abuses
and triumphs around the world. The symposium will examine human
rights in places such as South Africa, the Middle East, India, and
Europe, as well as in the United States. Speakers will also explore
what groups like Amnesty International and the International
Society for Human Values are doing to promote human rights
worldwide.

The conference will include a
meeting of UNESCO Chair-holders in human rights from around the
world. Omara-Otunnu, a regional coordinator for UNESCO
Chair-holders in human rights, has arranged for five UNESCO Chairs
from the Middle East, Western Europe and North America to confer at
UConn to discuss international human rights education. It will be
the first time that a university in the United States has convened
a meeting of UNESCO Chairs in human rights.

"Through this year's
conference, we will explore and suggest practical ways of
translating the ideals of human rights into reality in order to
make a positive difference in people's lives," says
Omara-Otunnu.

"We also hope that the
conference will inspire people to engage in human rights
activities. Any work for human rights advances human welfare and
fosters a global sense of our common humanity."